Autumn 2026 Newsletter

This is my first year leading the community, and looking back, it has been quite unlike any other. Definitively challenging in all possible ways, exciting in many, difficult in others - and one that none will forget. It is perhaps in years like that that we are reminded what makes the Salam Centre and Salam's vision worth caring about so deeply.

 

The scientific life at the Centre has just been phenomenal as we welcomed so many new colleagues, celebrated well-deserved promotions, new grants, prizes and awards, and heard our members speak at some of the most prominent events in the world. Huge congratulations to now Drs Kinga Gawrych, Yusheng Jiao, Guhesh Kumaran and Max Velasquez Cotini Hutt for successfully defending their thesis, and congratulations to all postdocs who have moved on to exciting new positions - a sign, I think, of the quality of the environment we work hard to cultivate. Our outreach and engagement work continues to be featured at all levels, and the small peek of research which is highlighted in these pages this time on string theory in curved spacetime, open quantum systems in cosmology, S-matrices, dualities in gravity and black holes, gives only but a tiny taste of the incredible breadth, quality and depth of the questions being explored.

But this year has also been a difficult one. We sadly said goodbye to Kelly Stelle, who had been part of this group since 1982 and who, in many ways, helped shape what it became. Over more than four decades, he made contributions to supersymmetry, supergravity, quantum gravity and M-theory, introduced what we all now know as Stelle gravity, a framework and a way of thinking which will carry on for generations. Yet, those who knew Kelly of course know that theoretical physics, remarkable as it is, tells only ever part of any story. He was a true polymath - as comfortable discussing Russian literature or Italian politics as he was on papers on supergravity. He had a unique yet universal sense of humour, an inexhaustible store of stories, and a warmth that made everyone around him feel welcome. He inspired generations of students through the QFFF MSc programme, which he directed for nearly two decades.

In March, the Centre held a one-day meeting to celebrate his scientific life and legacy, where family, colleagues, friends and former students met to reflect together, in the best possible way. Kelly is greatly missed. And as we carry him with us, a memorial website has also been created where anyone is warmly invited to share memories, photographs, and reflections on Kelly's life and work: https://www.online-tribute.com/KellyStelle.

It would also be wrong not to mention the unprecedented public funding challenges that fundamental research has witnessed throughout the past year. The effects are real, and the uncertainty they create has been felt at all levels. Yet it is perhaps in moments like this that it matters more than ever that we support one another, positively, within the Centre and beyond, across the UK, but also as part of a genuinely global scientific endeavour across borders and across subfields. The scientific meetings we've hosted, the visits from members that genuinely care about the Centre, its people and its research, and the countless number of public engagement initiatives we drove are not incidental. They are, in a real sense, what brings fundamental physics to life and what brings meaning to what we do.

So I look forward to a year ahead that is equally surprising, but perhaps a little kinder - just as groundbreaking in our physics, just as inspiring in our engagement with the world, and of course, one that is simply fun for all our members, new, young and younger.

Thank you and looking forward to welcoming our new QFFF students, PhDs, Postdocs, Fellows and visitors for a really exciting year ahead.